What Does Carbon Neutral Actually Mean?
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has issued a consultation paper seeking views on their proposed definition of the term ‘carbon neutral’. Responses are invited until 21 May 2009.
Why is a standard definition needed?
As people are becoming ever more aware of the risks posed by climate change, increasing numbers of ‘green’ products and services are being introduced which claim to be carbon neutral. These range from Eurostar train services whose marketing materials claim that ‘all journeys are now carbon neutral at no extra cost to our travellers’ to beer, with Adnams claiming to have created ‘the first carbon neutral beer’. The Government itself has said that all Government Estates are to be carbon neutral by 2012.
But what exactly does carbon neutral mean? There is no standard definition and as a result it is difficult for consumers to be sure precisely what the organisation marketing a particular product or service is claiming to have achieved by labelling it carbon neutral. Some organisations base their claims of carbon neutrality on a reduction in their carbon emissions whilst others have done so through carbon offsets or using green electricity tariffs. Organisations also differ in which emissions they consider when branding their products or services carbon neutral.
All this inconsistency creates a danger that the public may loose confidence in what carbon neutrality actually means and as a result stop supporting the organisations which are promoting it. The Government believes that by introducing a standard definition of carbon neutral which involves a transparent process of measuring, reducing and offsetting emissions, organisations will have a clear method of communicating the carbon reduction work that they are doing to the outside world and consumers can have confidence in what they are contributing to when choosing a carbon neutral product or service.
The proposed definition
The proposed definition is “carbon neutral means that through a transparent process of measuring emissions, reducing those emissions and offsetting any unavoidable emissions, net calculated carbon emissions equal zero.”
The consultation paper also includes practical guidance on applying the definition and sets out recommendations on what constitutes good practice.
Measuring emissions
The Government recommends that good practice would be to measure both direct and indirect emissions. Direct emissions would be from the production of electricity, heat, steam and owned transport. Indirect emissions would be from the consumption of electricity, heat and steam, business travel, transport of purchased goods, distribution of products, waste disposal, staff commuting, production of purchased materials and use of products. The emissions measured would form the initial carbon footprint of the product or service and this, together with the method of calculating it, should be made available to the public. The Government advises that organisations can either physically measure the emissions or they can use Government guidelines to calculate emissions from certain activities.
Reducing emissions
The Government advises that the organisation should make it clear to the public which emissions have been reduced, by how much and over what time period. Reductions should be measured using the same formula as was used to measure the initial carbon footprint to ensure consistency. Reduction of green house gases that were not originally included in the initial carbon footprint should not be allowed to contribute to carbon neutrality. Reductions should not be ‘one-offs’ but a genuine permanent reduction.
Offsetting emissions
There are different ways of offsetting remaining carbon emissions. When deciding what type of offsets to buy organisations should make sure that they represent genuine additional emissions reductions elsewhere. To be sure that this is the case, the offset project should meet certain criteria regarding permanence, leaking and double counting.
Benefits of a standard definition for carbon neutral
Whilst the Government does not intend to regulate use of the standard definition of carbon neutral, it will enable organisations to demonstrate to consumers that they have used the definition and followed the Government’s good practice guidelines in order to add weight to their claims of being carbon neutral. This should lead to the following benefits:
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Enhanced consumer protection;
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Increased action on climate change through the provision of a framework for competition on factors other than price;
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Reduced levels of cynicism about climate change because of unclear carbon related claims by organisations;
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Companies who invest money in reducing and offsetting carbon emissions can see that they offer value for money.
This article was first published in the Property Law Journal on 18 April 2009.
